Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.): n. Sunday, November 3, 1907. Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.). 400dpi TIFF G4 page images Blade Publishing Co., Lexington, KY 1907 blu1907110301 These pages may be freely searched and displayed. Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically. Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.): n. Sunday, November 3, 1907. Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.). Blade Publishing Co., Lexington, KY 1907 $IMLS This electronic text file was created by Optical Character Recognitio n (OCR). No corrections have been made to the OCR-ed text and no editing has be en done to the content of the original document. Encoding has been done through an automated process using the recommendations for Level 1 of the TEI in Librar ies Guidelines. Digital page images are linked to the text file. Ljs BLUE GRASS BLADEWE AIM TO CUT DOWN ERROR AND ESTABLISH TRUTH VOLUME XVI NUMBER 22 1LEXINGTON KY NOV 3 1907 Published Weekly160 per Year in advance URrhJ 4d ABOUT THE PARSONS Charges of Heresy Profanity In Meet- Ing and Untruthfulness are Made Against Some of Our Beloved Pastors INTERESTING COLLECTION OF DATA IS TABULATED Press Clippings Things tire moving in the Christi world in a manner that is quite cxproH she In Cleveland a Methodist preueiir U charged with heresy for declaring Gen esis to lie mythand denying the Imnmc ulnte conception and the resurrection From Cincinnati it is reported Unit another Methodist and a minister clared the Bible not to be infsillibc A Chicago Univpnity1 professor of Anthropology insists that Methuselah lied about his age of old flesh Word also comes from Dayton Ohio that a Pastor of the Reformed Church accused a brother pastor front tIll pit with telling a damned lie mid fortunately for the accuser perhaps it happened North of the Ohio river ion even Southern preachers Ire known to resent such a soft nccusatiui by making a six shooter sing Come to Christ Another Ohio report has it that Meth list parsons chew tobacco1 and disl liolWve Genesis and actually pitch quoits for a prize These reports present an awful state of affairs but the best agreement s that while fools quarrel over trivial ties wise men smile in derision and pursue the even tenor of their way Let us take the items in the order above related read CHARGED WITH HERESY By United Press Cleveland OhioWith the charges of heresy against Dr C W Tinsley LtYoungstown end orthodox thinkers of Jl i J u drawn Dr Tinsley isms Methodistj Middle West e tt minister of the prosecution says the Youngstown A preacher rejects the divinity of Christ his immaculate conception the resur rection of the body and the inspira tion of the Bible They say no man can do Urn and remain a Methodist URGES AWAKENING Dr Tinsley nays Tile religious sentiment of the city should be awakened The oldtime line of teaching cannot get the people Three things are taught in the oU line of theology One is the Immncu late conception of Christ Another is the trinity und a third is the resur rection If anyone of these is fact it is beyond controversy The divinity of Christ in ones own breast He was in the incarnation of God just as one feels it The old idea that he was the only representative of God on earth is nb surdTo think that the only represents Live of God should suffer hunger fatigue is also absurd He was he incarnation of God onlyai we fee it ourselves GENESIS A MYTH I have said that the book of Gene sis was not history It was mach of myths which were chronicled long be fore the books of Moses were written The old hulls of doctrine cannot bo accepted now The old prophets were not so much fore tellers theywere not predictors of future event as much as theywere interpreters of God to menCincinnati OThe Bible is not fallible but contains rimy errors th result of the fact that every word it was written by the human hands this was the sulirtnicu ot a ftrman preached Monday morning by the Rev C E Schenk pastor of the Avomlnle M E church to his fellow Methodist ministers The ible a living world he sllIlt This is not because God wrote the Bible We are all agreed now think that God did not write it This not a damaging confession to make It is a simple sober truth that we were nil too slow in learning is dead the theory that is die Mated bookthat there is no human element in ittmt it is absolutely without human errancy has gone from us We now know that in tills sense God did not write tile Bible that every page of it was written by human hands Item is n book inspired of Go1 book that trap could not have mala alone but we are coming to se that no theory of its inspiration is thet ts divinity but rather that 2a1t adYo f tills launan hook jJ ll proof of its in riitii This U the glory of the Biblethat its truth come to us from the crucible of hums souls and through them down to us from thnvory neat of God THROW RELIGION OUT OF THE CHURCHE- Unless We Produce Greater Men tha Now Exist We Must Go Back ward Instead of Forward and theHuman Race Will be liraBrought to a Freez Ing Point The only treason that the race has progressed is because greater men have existed outside of the church than Inside As one of the best possible argu ments in line with this sentiment will be found inthe following Throw religion out of the churches Replace It with the scientific teaching of the laws of nature Produce child ren who will be able to grapple with the problem that Is now confronting the world the greatest problem the world has over known Do away with religion foriscelnce and religion can never be tmrmonlzed is the latest dictum of Prof Edgar L Larkin the astronomer of the Mount Lowe servatory who spoke at a meeting ot the Eugenics last night Prof Larkln drew on the statistics to show that the worlds supply ol coal would be completely exhausted In 10 years at present consumption wasto rate and said that unless scientists were forthcoming who could store heat from the potential energy of thesun the human race would be wiped out The only remedy ho cried is to produce men of greater minds than anyone wlio live By the end of the second generation from now there must bo men on earth greater than Edison loLJfisla or firs human racer temps rood toward tho e ventuallY all human life wllljBlsappear We must meet this mights problem and the study of eugenics alone can solve It Tell the children who come Into the Sundayschools something about eugenics their own bodies and the laws of nature Turn the churches Into eugenic societies forget relig ion dont talk of mythical Gods rel egate the very word religion to the back of the Dictionary learn to pro duce children who are able to grapple with the problems before us Rellg ion is going rationalism and science are coming to take Its place No woman can be taught to care for her own body or produce a perfect child so long as she is steeped and satu rated with the doctrines of the New Testament The teachings of St Paul and the teachings of science can never harmonize- In a few years our churches will have been turned bottomsldo up wo 1will have thrown the word of rellg Ion out of the front dooreduca- tlou will have been revolutionized When the time has come that a four teenyearold child can go inside a Sunday school and be permitted to hear one law of nature rather than the teachings of religion a monument should be erected to the event CHRISTS PLAN OF REDEMPTION FromeBlind Unreasoning Faith and are Unworthy of Credence By B Hamlin I ask what can be moro revolting to common sense reason and facts as they exist In nature of things that ilia senseless plan of Redemption or the forgiving of alma For Instance here is an old crimehardened sin stained whiskey soak who has sown broad cast the seeds of vice during- a life time and for a few sniffling repcntent tears gets his life long ca reer of iniquity canceled every sin is blotted out and he becomes a pure and sinless as when he pressed tho down pillow of Infant Innocence All along his guilty pathway of life is strown his victims of ruin suffers of his evil doing and will be the end of their days still this vagabond of debauchery Is now as pure and white as the snow flower all Is for given Arid this magic trick h one by the use of a little blood It1 r rY drawn from a fellow some 2000 yea s ago Can any of Baron Munchansons world remove falsehoods beat this Or even equal itf Such senseless trash could not have obtained credence even In the days of mental darkness in which it originated had not been for the invention of an lit called Faith Invested with such coSn Still we have 75000 brazen face rIsk pilots preaching this shameless ignorance to the people In our own country alone In the nature of things all the for giveness for any sin Is to stop sin ring and repair as far as may be the mischief you have done after some gospel sharp has mado a scroundrel believe this nonsense to be a fact that his sin blackened soul is nov spotless and clean all done on the presto change plan No wonder he speaks with a new tongue I should think so What a blessed Redeemer What a grand HolY HumbugIn name of common sense what has the dying of Christ to do with our sins The crucifixion of a ten acre lot full of Chrlsts cant cancel the sin and these sky pilots know it or ought Now these are facts about ro demptlon told In n plain way Anybody can understand It The cause fQr this redemption Is Just so foolish and senseless as the redemption It self and the whole thing Is nothing but a mass of senseless shameful trash BIBLE PUT OUT OF CHICAGO SCHOOLS Liberal Views of President of Board of Education who Accepts Views of Rosseau are Endorsed by Some Chicago Preachers cagolDlUV News Chicago has shown the c3rrrtTgetbT oust the Bible from her public still some of Chicagos most noted divines had endorsed the exclusion on the admitted ground that Bible reading in the schools is repugI nant to the majorityIBased upon the notions advanced by that eminent Freethinker Jean Jacques Rosseau the president of Chicagos Educational Board has taken an extremely radical stand on this important subject Upon the question of education llosseau saldIChildren should be subject to no artificial restraints Children should be accustomed to see ugly objects masks etc and to walk and play In dark places Exercise his the pupils body his senses his powers and keep his soul lying fallow as long as you can If he breaks windows in his chamber do not mend them but let the cold wind blow on him day and night It is better that he should take c01l1I than be a foolrDeter to have no Ideas of God than those low fanciful and unIworthy Such acquired in childhood will be retained in life Extracts from EmiletOtto C Schneider president of the board of education checked by a re a newnl of the oldtime proposition to place Bible reading in the curriculum of the schools and some of the clergy men of the city were inclined to In dorse his attitude I believe withm Jean Jacques Rousseau said he that religion should not be taught any one in any form until his or hers mind Is mature As for the Bible In the public schools I object to It It is not fit for children President Schneiders broadside was leveled at Mrs Elizabeth Cook president of thEu Womans Educational union and Mrs Clarence A Starr a coworker for edu cation While they were not encour aged to press the subject furthers they left the presence of the school board chief fully determined to re now their efforts but how they would go about it was not decided upon do not see how Mr Schneider It could take any other stand said the Rot R A White also a member of tho school board In view of the general publlq sentiment the Idea should not be pressedat least until such time as conditions demand a course of the bible reading In the meantime the Bible should be more widely read in the homes It Is the Continued from Fourth Pager WHY SO MANY OF OUR American Marriages are Doomed t be a FailureToo Many Women 1Educated the Wrong Way INTERESTING ARTICLE FROM WOMANS POINT OF VIE From the pen of a slstfr and a corn patriot comes such an Indictment ot American wives as no man remarks n Chicago paper would dare to form elate This fearless critic of her sex is Anna A Rogers who asserts in the pages of Tho Atlantic Monthly that our women as a whole are spoiled extremely idle and curiously undeserving of the maudlin worship that they demand from our hardworking men and that they are by reason of these qualities In no small degree responsible for the Increasing number of matrimonial catastrophes re corded in our divorcecourts Tho American wife Mrs Rogers com plains reared In the latterday cult o Individualism Is strong in the fait that Is more blessed to receive than to give Her attitude toward mare age may be either supercilious or sentimental but In either case It fails to recognize the axiom that marriag- is womans specific share in the worlds workfirst last and always Mrs Rogers admits that our women have qualities that would make for success event In marriage If they elected to expend them in these commonplace ways But as evidence that they do not so expend them she points to the fact that divorces are increasing in the United States at a rate out of all proportion to theIgrowth of population and remarks in cidentally that we hay 2291 courts which have anw rt rntdl Germanys twentyelght and Frances seventynine During the last fifty years more radical changes by far have come in the social status of wooI men than in that of men and fact suggested to her the daring as sumption that her sex might be toIsome extent responsible for the modI em growth of divorce The poets according to Mrs Rogers are responsible for much of the present feminine megalomania but modem scientists on the other hand are effectively reducing the swelling as it were The modern cult of In dividualism she goes on to say is the rock upon which most of the lowerbedecked marriagebarges go pieces To quote It Is admittedly not easy to remem ber that our lives are only Important- as Integral parts of a big social system Especially difficult is it for a woman to be made to realize this because her whole life hitherto has peen generally an experiment in IndividualI Ism whereas a mans first primitive times has become more and an experiment in communism The inborn rampant ego in everyI has found its wholesome In hard work generally communlt a sworltwhereas the devouring 0Inuseless uneasy factor vouchsafing her very little more peace than it does those in her immediate surcharged vlclnlt Itowadaysmans mental and muscular equipment in school or college and then e at the age of twenty she stops dead and faces a world ofnegaIfives No exigent duties no five work no manner of expanding normally her highly developed hun mgryher and devour her Is not to bbtwondered at And so it comes to pass that this highly trained wellequipped rend al ill equlped famine ego faces wife hood tho one rend only subject about which she is persistent kept in the dark And from the outset she falls to realize never having been taught that what she then faces Is not a brilliant presentation at the Court ot Love not a dream of ecstasy andItriumph not even n lucky and com fortable lifebillet she is facing heriwork at last her difficult often tensely disagreeable slid dangerout lifetask And her salary sometimes be only partly paid sometimes begrudgingly sometimes not at allvery rarely over paidby either her husband or children J 11 Iiiii Our women are handicapped e goes on to say by a combination excessive energy and sheer idlene of purpose And In this connect Mrs Rogers finds fault with even our muchboasted modern fad of physical culture She writes The present excessive education of young women and excessive physical breathingoculture the masseurs the manicur ists the shampooers have produced a curious anomalous hybrid a cross between a magnificent rather unman exacttnWg who sincerely loves In this world herself alone Thus quite a new relationship between th sexes has arisen n slipshod uncnival rous companionship which before marriage they nominate good form but which after marriage they illogic ally dlscove to be cause for tears ot for temper PREACHERS ARRESTEDI ON A ROBBERY CHARGE Made a Sly Trip Into Friscos Famous Chinatown Just to see the Sights HuggingfDiamondh 1FromIt is strange how some preachers cesspoolsecan get away anlonce In a while they are caughtpHere is the story of ofc one of the cloth who was unlucky to get caught With his counsel Attorneys Bonne and Jackson the former for man years District Attorney of Modoc county the Rev George A Charnock of the tJudgeof grand larceny this morning Wjf demanded an immediate hell 4s cldt g t at an aw i15lull a been made that he was a non r at dent and wanted to get out of the cit just as soon as he could and that ht had no fear of final exoneration of th awful chargecAt o the Six Companies who stated thatc the powerful Chinese organization would prosecute the man and that IIlarappear to conduct the prosecutionb the hearing went over row morning at 10 oclock Meanwhile of the divine from Alturas Modoc county Is enjoying liberty on cash ball furnished by his attorneys The troubles of the Rev George A Charnock date from a visit to thee Chinese section of the city on Saturday night He had come to the city the and was hsaysthe Orlentials for whom the mission tIarlesii their native land He caught theel glimpse Also he caught a tartarE when on his tour of rlInvaded IrHeChinese gamblingroom on Jackson cJstreetSfenthusky heathens set the Rev PCharnockwhen the policeman arrived upon theC scene This Is what led to the arrest rand the grand larceny charge against Mrs Chin He Fong says the preacher embraced her as soon as henl renteredaluable earring from her ear A1aJ Immediate search was made of theS prisoner but the officers failed to find the lost bauble and although the wo an is positive enough have sworn the complaint the police believe the earring was lost while the crowd was struggling at the doorwayS of the place to eject the preacnw Snow Wllkinson Debate The Snow Wilhlnson debate and ourIe Tracts will be sent for 16 cents Sell to ng elsewhere at 25 cents E Lewis writes us started to underscore Important parts of your speeches butII found was marking the whole 50 of our Tracts for dlstrlbua lion for 13 centsgA A SNOW Llnevllle Iowa d 4 F FOLLY I N RELIGIOUS FORM TownWhereFrom Place to Place and Hunted Like a Wild Beast MlMOTHER EXAMPLE OF CHfllbilAN LOVE AND CHARITY eThe prejudices and practices of the ands Oliurch in central Illinois long cousiutred similar to lodge secrets are being paraded before the public HudolllltIschona County against Rudolph Vitc zig an elder of tne church residing urldley in Woodtord county uiifcZig is made defendant m action chargesInof the elder recognized as the head neighborIand the church has followed him to various parts of the country making It Impos employmentIsch t years ago he charges at the dl theahaving himself beIngof meals with his family the added penalty for his dire offense HE BROKE OTHER RULES arfromyways of tins church Sometimes he dared violate the cannon against card playing and punfsTh w ot the relentless and de r = inywalch the excom pursued furnishes a parall with the 0 AfteryIsch says ho vfethe center of an Amish community in Woodford county Iscn In his bill that Elder Wit dtspeuanIschs services under threat of withdrawing all the Amish patronage the community Isch then established himself in but the elder he says threatened expulsion of any member the church who patronized him Discouraged but not entirely cast down he tried again this time as a salesman for an Indiana firm IIhe again caused his dismissal- As a result of the suit the congre gation has become divided and more than a score of prominent members aligned themselves with Isch story Is not new to them but m the suit was filed they made no in his defense Now that the is beyond the church and Witezig has violated one ot the of the church himself in secur the services of an attorney to conduct his case in tho courts the members are declaring them The membership of the church In eoria includes 250 persons Tazewell is the stronghold of tho church In the state The Illinois membership Is estimated at more ttan 2000 Among the centers of the Ish population in Illinois are Macki Morton Tremont Falrbury Eu ka Roanoke Gridley Forrest Elgin Cissna Park PECULARITIES OF SECT The Amish are of German origin Their language Is not unlike that of the mother tongue They are usually welltodo They are thrifty plain and unassuming Their dress is very No colors are tolerated Thet iishairwear black sailor hats the older Jdenlife all grow beards No finery is tOIkcrated Rings bracelets and are tabooed Men are church trial if they wear hat sUbjectIDuring the past few years have a greatly increased ionlesfarm and land In some In iprairieacre In largo tracts for the establish ment of a community tj5 Ji I It r rf BLUE GRASS BLADE Founded 1884 and edited by Charlf Chllton Moore up to hU death February f 1906I JAMES E HUGHES Editor and Publisher SUBSCRIPTION RATES in idvanus nnFiveper year each Trial subscription 15 cents per month Ml orelsn subscription postpaid 200 per yeear HAKE ALL money orders drafts checks etc payable to JAMES E HUGHES Lexington Ky us this will facilitate collection ADVERTISING RATES ALL ADVERTISEMENTS of whatsoever character ac cepted will be published at the rate of 100 per Inch per month unless by special contract when other and better rates will be quoted upon applica dun The publishers have tho right to reject any and all advertisements offered GENERAL BUSINESS RULES ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS to the Blade will be discontinued at tue expiration of the term for which the suh scrlptlon has been paid up In advance The i address slip on the paper will show subscribers r the date of expiration of subscription Back 4numbers or numbers omitted will be sent It asked for upon rene ul In ease of discontinuance SHOULD ANY SUHSCRIUER cha ue his or her tiddrew aovise this office giving both old and new aiiu the Blade will be sent to the new address a8 desired THE OFFICE of publication of the Blade Is at 12G1V North Limestone Street Lexington Kentucky to which all Freethinkers will be given a hearty welcome 1IE BI ADE if entered at the Ostlf1i e at ixiiitim Kentucky as second class mailing matter ADDRESS ALL COMMUTATIONS TO THE BLUEGRASS BLADE P O Box 393 Lexington Ky ItI More light Work is worship Let the sunlight in your heart Keep busy doing something for somebody 4 With a few more names on our mailing list we could do better At last the Blade has caught up with the date and we mean to keep there If each of our readers would now turn in and send a new subscriber there would bt something doing e That Ohio preacher will knower titan to utter 1alie against the honor and i orY of Colonel It odJ Ii 1 Ii anrsull 9 Always bear in mind that it is sweet to work when we work for the happiness of those we love and who love us Special attention is called to our editorial this issue written in reply to a contributor on the morality and belief question To slander a dead man provokes contemptuous pity Had excites the anger of intelligent people hut it is always a waste of lather to shave an ass Judging from the storm of wrathful indignation Miss Laura Smith has called down upon herself by reason of her criticism of the churches the preachers are advised tha they had better get or the port sidof themselves and make a careful in spection of their pantalettes Rebellious romanism and pusillanimous protestantism are still vieing with each other for public and personal favor but the road to intellectual freedom still calls for a lot of hard digging and the diggers are so few that the work becomes more difficult for those who are willing to get in tho trenches Even at this late day shameless liars will con tinuo to defame the memory of a lend freethinker by charging him with cowardice and desertion in the hour of the countrys need and yet those preachers who peddle such lies for the glory o f the god they worship never went into the war and if they did it was to pray and not to fight But of course the greatest liar desires to be thought truthful The earliest form of religious worship ofwhich wo have any actual knowledge was solar told si dereal It preceded any scientific information It was a simple theogony Just as the science of astronomy dethroned Apollo Osiris and that in numerable host of deities born of the sun so will increasing intelligence dethrone the god of Abra ham Isaac and Jacob now so persistently though ignorantly worshipped by the Christian world In a recent issue of Higher Science there ap peared in Its editorial columns a lengthy quota tion of the Blades criticisms of Sir Oliver Lodge and his inhabitable planets Commenting upon appovirrglySir Oliver was in grievous error in assuming such a dogmatic position on the subject The Blade periodicalscussion upon the heavenly bodies than our far Western contemporary ItAfter all God is just what we male him The Jews actually believed thatjtlie world was flat that it had four corners and that the Libt 411 overhanging firmament was a solid concave filled with augur holes through which the rain leaked and that he could precipitate a deluge by the siml expedient of throwing open a trapdoor is with all other gods The gods of the ancient- were equally ignorant and impudent cruel and cranky Their principal occupation was making war by proxy and committing adultery in propria persona You are a fool Your sheet is a cess pool YouI ought to be tarred and feathered and then flayed alive signed Disgust This is but a portion of a communication reoI ceived by the Blade but it is by far the most in tesesting as it affects the editor in a personal way The missive was mailed evidently on a train on the Illinois Central railway from some point in Indiana Any man or woman who could writs such a letter should either have the moral courage to sign their name or burn it before mailing An annonymous roast is a cowardly stab in the dark whether the assassin be tunic or female It is an emanation of irresponsibility No doubt the au thor has a fixed unfaltering faith in the religion of charity and love but it is not practised in this case t The average parson strives to pose before his congregation as a modern Pallas to whom the most recondite secrets of the heavenly hierarchy are as familiar as the face of the town clock that he is competent to rede every riddle in the vast apocalypse of Nature to interpret every blazing character on the firmament of night They regardI a criticism of the deity as a personal themselves and assume that they are the specially selected of the Lord to represent him on earth No wonder that in spite of them the world is yek filled with foul wrong that the demons of darkness patrol it by night and by day that it is still being swept by the hot breath of lust Abolish the preacher antia greater happiness will dawn One would naturally expect that with competi tion in the salvation business the rivalry would tend to cheapen the rates in an effort to make a hid for the business end of the game Strange t u relate the Blade is unable to learn of any cut rates On the contrary the same rules that govern commerce do not prevail in this sphere for the fiercer the rivalry the higher goes the rates Christian salvation is now only free to paupers and they are not allowed to travel first class This comes from the breadandbutter getting propensity of the sacrcdotal class but it is so discouraging when Christians will not see and perceive the truth A RATHER WEAK DEFENSEI tutee The church defenders are still smarting rl it n tint nil Itlj4tires nut e hroug t an article of Miss Laura Smith based upon her conception of church cordilJ ity as the result of the personal experiences sno underwent The Herald and Presbyter a religious public- u tion which may be called a sort of double Ilea er takes serious exceptions to the efforts of 3Iiss Smith to apply a test a true test of the cordiality manifested by the fashionable churches towards the stranger within their gates and denounces her in rather unbecoming and inimodst language Among other criticism this church organ says A young woman has been employed to go about the country sneaking in as supposed worshiper in the various churches not for the purpose of worshiping God but as a paid spy to furnish sensationalcapital to her paper and bring in rev enue to her own pocket Such a project as this deserves only rebuke She does not go to church to receive the spiritual benefit which every church attendant should seek but to take religious unowares and at a disadvantage and secure n 1many good sensational stories as possible Nowhere in all her writings has Miss made the slightest suggestion that she is else but a Christian There is certainly no indi cation that she is or even pretends to be a Freethinker Under these conditions it is simply Chris tiara criticising Christian when Miss Smith flays the churches and Christian abusing Christian whet the Church organs assails the personal integrity ff Mass Smith By charging that Miss Smith WitS actuated by a desire for revenue only in work ing up a senstation these same organs must not forget that they also desire revenue for reply ing to Miss Smith and that it was the churches they defend that furnished her with the sensations And by what right does the same organ undertake to berate Miss Smith in that she had taken hurch people unawares Are not good Christians s supposed to be the same in all places and at times If Miss Smith lucid announced her coming her mission would have proven a dismal failure for every church would have prepared for her extend ed to her the glad hand all along the line sermons would have been prepared especially for her bene fit the choirs render special music and the entire working force of each church would have flocked about her in nn extreme anxiety to get a favorable write up front lieu pen It is a safe bet that if there be a Christ and he should again cone to earth and follow the example of Miss Smith he would be given the marble heart just as it was given hi this case What would this distinguished defender of a rotten credit system have to say about being taken unawares then The plan would be without avail and the test made without their knowing it This is what hurts the felings of the church peo ple they were being tried and tested without their knowing it and were found sadly wanting Summing up the defense made it is weak vacilI lating and utterly fails in its purpose No better could be expected of modern Christianity andI t lffLftr d ihn 1 Miss Smith has gone a good distance in thus exI posing the entire fraud NO PUBLIC FUNDS FOR PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS The Christian people of Middletown Connecticut by a vote of 934 as against 643 rejected n proposition submitted by the Roman Catholic church which was in effect that thin parochial school of that denomination be taken in charge by the municipal authorities upon the payment of an annuity of 4800 to the Roman Catholic par ish but the right to be unto the parish priest to designate teachers for the several rooms in the schoolIt happens that Mliddletown is possessed of a majority of Protestant worshipers who professed to see a menace to our free institutions in the Roman Catholic proposition but they fail to see that their own conduct towards the public schools is equally as dangerous to the free institutions of the republic by the enforcement of religious exer rises in the schools in line with the sectarian teach ings of the dominant faction which is an outrage pertrated upon every person who does not sub scribe to that particular form of Christian wor ship While Roman Catholicism should not be taught in our schools neither should Protestantism The schools should be purged of both Preparatory to the popular vote Icing taken on the question a bitter campaign was waged Protestants and Catholics alike took part From the reports of the contest as published many Catholics were anxious to be relieved of the bur den of maintaining a private religious institution which had declined in market value and were desirous of unloading the institu tout on the town The priest was careful however to stipulate that he should pro vide the teachers which in the end would really be the sisters of Catholicism attired in the peculiar garb of their order a proceeding which in itself would suggest n religious significance In any event the proposition suggests that some body had seriously underrated American public opinion and a fearful lesson was taught through it As previously stated a bitter campaign was waged prior to the vote being taken All the Prot estant preachers in the vicinity took a hand in the fight for the sole purpose of repelling the advances that lint been mad by Rome Among the bitter antagonists of the proposition was one Prof Wil liam North Rice acting President of the Wesleyan University who taking the stump is reported to have said during one of his harangues liThe publicschool system as wepeople of New England have cherished it for generations is free from any denominational or ecclesiastical char acter It would probably not conflict vvtl an1 iiajrrnlr tile tfcuvaers of nartlcilllsi scTWBl were members of a convent or sisterhood and ap neared in school in the characteristic garb or uni form of their order But it is obvious at once that a school so administered would have a very differ pubdProf Rice talks well as far as he is thus quoted but the trouble is that he does not go far enough to do justice He should now advocate the elimination of Bible reading in the public school whether with or without comment or interpreta tion He should advocate the abolition of the sing ing of Christian hymns and the practical obliter ation of all truces of religion and then we will have a little red school house to comport with the constitution hut not till ANOTHER GIZZARD COLLEGE timessis t Catiphil anthropist of that city has left an endowment of five millions of dollars with which to establish maintain a college for the education of orphan girl Carsonta mon viewsI and recently deceased Upon the probation enorImonsMay it long stand as a monument to his courage hut now look out for the parsons with their ham nIccs- WHY WE REJECT CHRISTIANITY During the past few weeks the Blale has been in receipt of a number communications includ ing printed leaflets ofa decidedly religions na ture from John 0 Smith of Bronson Michigan Some of these communications contained some pointed questions relative to Freethought and its attitude towards the Orthodox faith limit with the pressing routine of our daily round of labor surd toil the Blade has not had the tune in which to take up and answer the questions seriously The following letter was the last one to arrive and while we do not propose to follow out the plan suggested in full we have no reason for refusing to state our reasons for rejecting Christianity Before doing so we give the letter in full as follows Bronson Michigan James R Hughes I have read your paper You seem to be sincere It may be that your objections to Christianity could be removed if you would state them in yourj next paper and send it to me for a short reply to appear in the issue tuat follows Then you would your opinion tt that which might and it if 5 you prefer but if it pleases you I might clear up y that matter also This would no doubt be profitable and interesting Everybody would be longingi t for the next issue and the honest could choose for himself i t If Christianity is a humbug let us have it outJt of the way as quick as possible Dont you says tool I will male m y answers very brief which will please everybody We should not try to beat each outer but just to get at the best way Such an article might be printed from the type before taking it down in leaflet form Have you the courage to meet an old fogy If so state a lot ofIquestions and seifd to me for reply Yes let us s t settle it and take some conceit out of the Chris tiaras FJohn 0 Smith Accepting the intimation that the Blade is be lived to be sincere in its opposition to accepted religious fortes and formulas are are not concerned whether this article is ever answered or otherwise but we will cheerfully publish any re ply that is couched in intelligent language We desire to say at the outset however that a men framing up of Bible quotations will not be con sidJred as an intelligent reply for bible quota tations prove nothing concerning the truth or fal city of the Christian religion A reply to justify publication must be based upon human experience positive fact anti demonstration There are several reasons for our rejection of the Christian religion Any one of them will be suf ficient Combined they become a powerful force in our unbelief We cannot believe or accept Christianity firstBecause its false Right here we may be told that this is a mere assumption of our own But to the proof l Putting aside the old Jewish theology of the Old Testament we may take up for consideration j socalled new dispensation and we find its sole claim rests upon a number of miracles A mir sole claim rest upon n number of miracles A mirrache presupposes the setting aside of natural illtheshown to be impossible and if there be no miracles there can be no true Christianity Taken at its best the Christian religion was born of inspired adultery while its pinnacle was capped with murder Even the true believer must in sober serious mo men s entertain a doubt about Mary being con ceived of the holy ghost and if he eau in a mo ment of mental aberration accelerated by faith bring his mind to an acceptance of the scheme yet his temporary doubt gives positive justifi cation 40 an unbending intelligent unbelief On the other hand no sanex person believer or unbeliever can accept the doctrine that a loving and niArcijjil father would design and plan the ihaultliS OW1 on 1twliat others had done Right here we wool Ine question If Christ had two nnilures a human nature and a divine nature part ditid on the cross the human or the divine Wo eject Christianity for the further reason that if teaches a false system of human morality TJle doctrine that Jesus will settle the bill furnishes an incentive to crime and wrong doing while the further teaching of salvation by re pentance and faith issues broadguagc or a blanket license to every criminal under the sun The Christian religion places belief in creeds above a noble action Men live by what they do not by what they believe or profess to believeJMen may ignorantly believe that Jesus was the json of God and they may accept the crucified bill of idemnity but in moral law that belief cannot exempt any man from the responsibilities of his misdeeds All moral responsibility strictly to the individual and he cannot by anyIsystem saddle that responsibility upon In this may be found the decided anotherfFrcethought as it teaches a personal re sponsibility of man to man while Christianity merely inculcates a responsibility for Christiansstill wage war upon each other beliefImere difference m belief while Freethought stands the ardent foe of poverty ignorance end crimes also reject Christianity because it insists upon a belief in and a worship of a God In the economy of nature there is no room or necessity for a god Maui would not know what J to do with it should he find one Nor indeed could ho recognize one if he should meet it on the road He would ned an introduction As the belief inaud the worship of god forms the central idea ofaU religious belief Christian or pagan it follows that without god or if god is not then follyJupon lief in a divine revelation direct from their deity and for proof of this reference is made to wondrous prodigies called miracles such as the death restored virgiti with child mountains removcd storms alaycdand children begotten without the nssistance of an earthly father Upon such flimsy presumptions has the Christian religion been built Assuming that god does exist Christianity would have us believe that he proves his prescience and power by reversing those laws which he had formed for cosmic rule The sacred slush and mumnier ies of miraculous births angelic visitors and hasheesh visions have failed to impress or simplylookedgive expression to the inexpressibleIThese are but three reasons why we reject the Chris inn religion and yet they cover the entire realm Other reasons can be given but they would require more space than we can give to recitt them let ihe above suffice for if either can be mustt t trfr IA i l t I 1 4 y +t SHAKESPEARE rr iL j PLAYS WRITTEN BY RALIEUH Concluded from last week complexIcounts for much It can overcome ob stacles that would be unsunnountablc by education alone We have Shake speares assurance that the poets eye in a fine frenzy rolling can range from earth to heaven and from heaven to earth and give form and substance habitation and name to things un known But can it give lifelike truth to mundane forms and conditions with ont having actual observance thereof Could the mimic life of the actor even illumined by the trnnsccmlnnt genius confer that the marvelous knowledge of human nature in nil its various phases which is exhibited in the dramas of was neither ohlicr a seaman n statesman a torr nor u lawyer he was nn actor and theatrical manager whose early his tory is obscure and untrnecable for many years Sir Walter Raleigh on the other hand was in the sunlight t publicity nIl his life lie was educated at Oxford where ho was according to I Anthony A Wood strongly advanced in academical learning and became profi cient in oratory and philosophy One his task as follows Authors are per plexed under what topic to place him IGwhether of statesman seaman soldier or chronolger for in all these he did excel He could make everything he read or heard his own and his own he could easily prove to his own advan taue seemed to be born to that only which he went about so dexterous was he in all his undertakings in court in camp by sea by land with word with pen An account of his execution ends with similar testimony Kneeling with his face toward the ea t he gave a signalI and with two strokes of the axe Hal sigh was severed from all the vicissitudes and troubles of this world nnllI by tho act of a coldhearted a patriot as a soldier or a sea scholar a poet or a philosopher JEngland ranked umong the brightest fthegc in which we live ve hero a catalogue of thn iqu 1Ities required by the author ot Shakespeare Bacons manifold ac complishments fall far short of the list while those of the reputed author of theI plays so far as we have any evidence outside the works themselves are too Raleigh has the ability as well as the temperament and equipment to write the great dramas is beyond all cavil His known poetry stands high in the literature of the period Hit sonnet beginning Methinks I saw the grave which was deemed classiEnglishIevent called forth blending the pat sional of personal regret withe the dig t pity of public grief One stanza clare t a wellknown critic might be scribed on a monument to Sydney England doth hold thy limbs that hrldI valor where it last was lIameIsorrow where thy bOIlC died Thy friends thant the world thy virtues fame There were ninny tributes to Ral J eighs poetical genius during his life time In 1508 Francis Mere referred to him as one of the most passionate amongst us to bewail and bemoan the perplexities of love Puttenhnm in 1589 said in his Art of English Poesy For ditty and amorous ode I find Sir Walter Raleighs vein most lof4avcr red that his lost poem Cynthia was a fine and sweet invention And Ed Spenser himself Raleighs close friend and confidant addressed him as the Summers nightingale whose tuneful car might be unseasoned by his ow rustic madrigal Fnerie Queene in whose publication Raleigh largely assisted Modern critics have been equally generous in praise of his literary genius William Goodwin declares that he was a writer more learned than Shakes peare more polished by varieties- of human intercourse and that with persons of highest eminence and station than Hooker He loved let ters intensely says Eugene Lawrence and was one of those bountiful tectors of literature in this age who gave without a thought of patronage Ior and doiro but to help upward tile aspiring intellect Ho gave uponly five hours of the twentyfour to sleep states Martin Hume in Builders Great Britain and spent every hour he could snatch to study His rending must have been omnivorous for his 1 titYq h lircidtirof view his depth of knowledge and his profanity of thoughtfar in advance of his conlemtwrarlesprovI- Bm e to hasp been perhaps tho mOlt versally capable Englishman that eve liveda lit contemporary of Shake spears and I3acon Now if a reviser or editor woho re glared for plays purchased from needy scholars by Shakespeare who was more fitted for tho work than Raleigh t fore he was committed to the Tower ho had contemplated the founding of n literary bureau which was to bring for mutual aid andencouragement His plan accord ing to Sir Walter Petty was In the nature of clearing house for current literaturen plan by which the wants and desire of all learned men might be made knownao each other where they might know what is already done in the business of learning what is at present doing and what is Intended to be done to the end that by such a general com munication of designs and mutual as sistance tho wl6 and endeavors of the world may iio longer be so many scat toned conhchhalngno union are soon qnen lherca8 being laid gether theywould have yielded acorn fortable lighefand heat For the pres ent condltlrfofmln is like a field where a buttle having been lately fought we see1many legs arms and organs of sense lying here and there which for want of conjunction and soul to quicken and eliven them are fit for nothing to feed the ravens not infect the alrso we see many wits and ingenuitieiMlispcrsed up anti down the world whereof ome nre now labor log to do whatis already done an puzzling themselves to reinvent what already inventedothers we see quit stuck fast in difficulties for default a few direction which sonic other man might be mePvithal both could and would most I give them Again one man requiies n small sum of money requireithas twice ns much ready to beRto same design lint these two having nn means to the one of the other bybothcome to nothing If Shakespeare was only the shrew theatrical manager that the Baconitc claim a man who bought tho reversion remodelingthemstage he Would most certainly seek nn alliance with the projector of this great literacy aid society And Ral sigh lJr accept th rcvisiorJ IPljiurrrrCiore lie would have t othe to keep tile pnrtmchnrdEssex conspiracy and would have been only too glria to make Sir Walt rs nection with the theatre an excuse for beheading him sooner than he did Shakespeares dearest interests would also be bound up in the profoundest puttinnaturally stand ns their only begetter when the real parent could only knowledge his relationship at the cost of his r submit that the evidence rerewith presented warrants the presumption at least that Raleigh has better title to the authorship of Shakespeare than Lord Bacon We have seen that beyond any of his contemporaries he had the varied experience and mental equipment needed for the work He was a prisoner in the Tower and ample leisure at time the greatest of the dramas was produced He had the true dramatic instinct which got erns and permeates them Almost every singe of his own career was es sentially dramatic Witness his splen- entrance into court life My Lord Bacon would have gladly spread his costly cloak in the mud to keep the dainty feet of Elizabeth unsoiled but his wit was hardly equal to such an occasion Witness Raleighs grand bearing during his trial as he calmly and skilfully repelled the vicious as saults of his prosecutors Witness also his conduct o the scaffold Feeling the edge of the axe he remarks with a smile This is sharp medicine but it is aremedy for all diseases When the executioner asks which way he prefers to lay his head on theblock he says as ho bend for the last net of his bril lion life So the heart bo right it matters not how the head lies These lost words have the true Shakespcrian ring and what grander or more thrilling scene can bo found in the whole range of tho Shakespcrian tragedies than the execution of Sir Walter Raleigh f BAR RELIGION OUT OF SCHOOLS Our schools aro run by public funds By Infidels and Jews And perhaps by Mohammedans And by no religious views Would It be right then to compel These to support a creed To support a church mythology And perpetuate the breed Weve had enough of priests made Of popes and priestly rule hells Forever bar the preachers out i schoollichools1o hut teach tho truths that benefit- r This life and nothing mote We are the born people to live Under our Countrys ruleUnder the stars and stripes that float Above our common schools We will not bow to any pope We will not bend the knee Well place the flag above the cross Well be forever free No barbrous cross emblem of blood Of saviors ruthlessly slain Shall oer Invade our ptbllc schools This must be made quite plain We want no catechism taught And prayers will never go We do not care what priests believe Teach simply what you know P J Cooley ITALIAN MONOPOLY OF CATHOLIC DISSENTION GROWING AMONG AMERICAN MEMBERS OF THE ROMISH CHURCH WHO ARE TIRED OF A SYSTEM OF TAXATION WITHOUT ADE QUATE REPRESENTATION AMERICAN PRINCIPLES MAY YET UNDO THE CHURCH OF ROME The following may furnish nn illus discontentaamong j in concern timefpear the columns of the Literary Digoit from which it is taken should give it great weight among thinking people Tho article reads Italians are roundly accused of turn lug the Roman Catholic Church into n nnomnisvof the situation thus produced ed out by a correspondent of the Now York Sun who sign himself An Irish Catholic He shows how America fur nishes most of the genuine spiritual support of the Vatican as well as a of the sinews of war andmemoluments and keeps the door tightly closed upon the American preferment at same time showing but a mcagej account in her works of grace would be impossible he thinks foll Poreetho his infltiMtea in rge as evidence by attention given his utterance on tho French Churc h question exceeds that all other mem liens of the Sacred College Some com parisons of Italy nnd America in tlie matter of allegiance nre stated in these termsCatholics in the United States sup power while the Italian who favors it is the exception Ono diocese in the United States sends more Peters pence to Rome than all the diocc in Italy A single priest bishop cardinal or layman in the United States does more to promote the interests of the Catho lie religion than n dozen Italians of responding rank More respect and in fluence attach to the American section of the Catholic Church than till the other branches combined What asks the writer do American Catholics get from the Vatican for their loyalty good example labors and site rifices He on to answer Not one of many cardinals Rome is an American Among tho num erous attaches of the Saved Congrega tions and hundreds of canons hoMo ing sinecures in the large churches of Rome we look in vain for an American If nn American wants to get a glimpse of Pope he cant find an American in the entire Vatican court altho Americans contribute liberally to tIle maintenance of the papal court Surely this is taxation without representation Yet this n not least evil Ital inn ecclesinsticnls would rather see the churchs growth impeded thnn to see it advance under the leadership of Ameri cans Their policy like that of all ma chine politicians is to nIle or ruin Their zeal to collect tribute from Amer lean Catholics is equaled only by their monopolization of the papal revenues anti honors 05 per cent of which are distributed among members of Hal ian race They care not who save souls provided they get the honors and revenues A movement is on foot to Impose a tax upon every diocese and church in the United States aggregating 00000 annually for the purpose of mnintnining at the Vatican an ex pensive and in large part useless reti nue whose pomp and luxury contra diet teachings of Christ nnd shock the simple and democratic tastes of American Catholics Catholic Church meets with no opposition of hatred in America and it would find none in Italy or France if it was under the guidance ofchurch men like Gibbons Ryan anti Ireland Yet Italian ecclesiastical would rather see their church nnd priests an object of hatred and contempt than relinquish in tho slightest degree their selfish and rapacious grasp upon the machinery of the church government The power of c f r n political leader lies in his control the district leaders and vomiulttccmcn A pimp of Italians is able to appoint nil bishops and shape policies of the Catholic Church because of the fact 71 per cent of tho College of Car dinal arc Italians Catholics need not expect to see Italy reclaimed to the Catholic faith or the church accorded the rank and influence due her until the Italian majority in the College of Cardinals Icut down and replaced by n proportionate number of represents them from other nations Suppose the shoe were on the other posts of honor at the papal court in eluding the papacy itself How much loyalty would Italinn priests bishops and cardinals evince toward an Atncrf canlzcd Vatican The answer to this question must give us pause MNSI SHOWNSBut the Moment One Starts Out to Prove Truth From One Side Only He ceases to be a Philosopher ABLE ARTICLE SUPPOSED FUTURE LIFE By Otto Wettsteln Over a half a century ago brave Harriet Martlneau said From tho movement when a man desires to find the truth on one side rather than on the other It Is all over with him as a philosopher This Implies thatI in searching for truth we most Innore perconcelved notions likes nnd dis likes emotional sentiments etc and base our belief strictly upon evidences and facts The Innumerable arguments which are continually advanced by the clergy and your correspondents based upon the alleged universal human longings and desires for con tinpus life weigh not a fraction of a haii In settling the question of our postmortem fate If they didIf our preferences could be a factor in the ttera1l that would be necessary human beings to live a hundred years or forever In the flesh here onjthls earth would be to Intensely desire such prolonged sublunary ex istence and then behold their wish and caprices would be forthwith realized If not a factor now and ire to prolong Indefinitely our pres egolsticaljiotfons morality when the human bodyas such living organic form exists no moral Nature or God Is sadly Inconsid erne of our welfare and notions We are all ushered Into existence with a death warrant In the hands of Fate and doomed to go through our brief life like convicts sentenced to nn early death We long In vain for con tinned health happiness and prosperity but Insttad are mostly afflicted with disease pain and sorrow How many great actresses famous singers public men mid society women inter achy yearn for prolonged youth beauty and the continuance of their prime In life only to behold thtir charms and talents speedily fade and vanish Millions struggle bravely for many years in commercial and professional pursuits build elegant homes grand business houses occupy enviable positions of honor only to be computed after a very brief period to leave all In possession of strangers Are wo not In love with this life Is It not really a prolongation of earthlike we nil most desire Who would not cheerfully resign all claims to a mystic Inscrutable eternal life minus the physical health and vigor added to the life we know the life we possess and enjoy because In pos session of a tangible body of flesh and blood But what does Nature or God care for us Must not this wondrous physique which constitutes our ego and without which we cannot even think of ourselves as men and women soon go back to dust disintegrate in to gases fluids soil vegetation and the lower order of animal life Is It not then a selfevident absolute fact that when the form which originated and constituted Individual man during life exists no more the man Is lend There Is no mystery about death whatever It Is precisely what It ap pears to be what we all know It to be from observation and experience The solo mystery connected with It Is simply tho mystery with which It has been Invested by designing or rant men If we confine our belief concerning It to what we know and see we have the entire truth At the time life ceases the total dynamic activities of the human structure simply stop that Is nil not a grain of anything to make the sur viving soul or spirit ofnot even the breath escapes as supposed- In view of all of this is It reason able to believe that the power that controls our existence whatever this may beand so utterly and cruelly Ignores our wishes now dur tho only life we know should soI fling change its mode of proced art as to grant us a mysterious eternal existence In the absence of tho complex organic structure which we know to be an absolute necessity for our existence here And this transcendent existence Is utterly Incomprehensible to us unknown to science and in localities nouJiscoverable with the strongest telescopes or pho to plates If we can live during eternity with out this wonderful complicated pity sicnl vital d nanmlc organism the crowning work of God as it has been called why In the name of reason I ask has this body been bestowed upon us for a few paltry years only Neither is the universality of tho belief In Immorality an argument In favor Many of the wisest men Ilts all nations have rejected it The Greecians Hindoos the American Indians Catholics Prostes tants Spiritualists and Theosophists all entertain radically nnlthetlcal views of a future life All Christians of the New Theology from Jefferson Franklin Channing Emerson Parker to Savage Swing and Thomas peremptorily reject the views of the old school theloglans pagans and heathens alike as grossest supersti tlon If then these several beliefs contradict and are destructive ot each other how can they conjointly prove that nny one is based upon causes produce like effects All nations and races in the past hav- Ing been alike Ignorant alike ceited In their own self Importance alike controlled by their emotions alike clinging to life and fearing death all alike consequently origi nated similar beliefs It proves unl versal Ignorance not eternal life Many wise In other directions herited these Irrational beliefs and acceptedand promulgated them with out personal Investigation Man actually Is a transle firm of mattera purely physical product ol purely physical causes All forms of matter are mutableall being all endtho separate elements compos lug all forms alone persist Hence man Is not Immortal 0 threats of Hell and hope of Para dise One thing at least Is certain this life flies One thing Is certain and the rest Is lies The power that once 1m9 blown forever dies j 7 Where there is thought there must be a thinker some organic structu which thinks the physical generates psychchlcal activity they are cause and effect Remove the cause and the effect vanishes In the absence of organs nervous system and brain there Is no basis for mind no outline form and attributes of a human being hence when malt is Inhumatcd or cremated he exists no more To say he survives the destruction of the body he Is equivalent to affirming that man can exist made of nothing To affirm that this is norrld doc trine 4s only to exhibit Ignorance Nothing can be horrid to the dead The present condition of future gen erations cannot be horridthe condl ion of the dead Is identical Eter nal life however possibly Implies even In the absence of a literal hell trash THE CALF PATH One day through the primeval wood A calf walked home as good calves should But made a trail all bent askew A crooked trail as all calves do Since then two hundred years have fled And I infer the calf Is dead But still he left behind his trail And thereby hangs my moral tale The trail was taken up the next tiny By a lone dog that passed that way And then a wise bellwether sheep Pursued the trail oer vale and steel And drew the flock behind him too As good bellwethers always do And from that day oer hill nnd glade Through those old woods a path was made And many man wound in and out And dodged and turned nnd bent about And uttered words of righteous wrath Because twas such a crooked path But still they followeddo not laugh The first migrations of that calf And through this winding wood way stalked Because he wobbled when he walked This forest path became a lane That bent and turned arid turned again This crooked lane became n road Where ninny a poor horso with his load Tolled on beneath the burning sun And traveled some three miles In one And thus a century and a half They trod footsteps of that calf The years passed on In swiftness fleet The road became a village street And this before men were aware iiiyffl A citys crowded thoroughfare And soon the central street was this Of n renowned metropolis And men two centuries and a hall Trod In footsteps of that calf Each day u hundred thousand rout Followed this zlgzaz calf about And oer his crooked Journey went The traffic of n continent A hundred thousand men were lead By one calf near three centuries dead They followed still his crooked way And lost one hundred years a day For th s reverence is tent To wcll established precedent A moral lesson this might teach Wcio ordained nnd called to preach For men are prone to go It blind Along the calfpaths of the mind And work away from sun to sun To do what other men have done They follow In the beaten track And out nnd In and forth and back And still their devious course pursue To keep the path that others do But how the wise old woodgods laugh Who saw the first calf Ah many things this tale might teach But I am not ordained to preach THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY By John F Clarke The great secular government allow priest to concot formulas that are used to bind men and women in purely seen lar relations While marriage is a most serious business it is not a religious matter nt all The clerical phraseology adds ridicule to n really sober transaction Whom God hath joined together let no man put iihiinder What a farce Whom does this injunction frighten Does it prevent the paramour from filing or the jurist front separating Not much It n boomerang and gives a rev bounding whack to the command and makes religion look like thirty cents Tim legal license that now has to be secured front State makes marriage a State affair the contracting put ies lire held accountable to the State alone fur the fulfillment of the same God butts in like a harlequin into a senate to a contrasting monkey business If a fellow says God damn there is a row by the sanctimonious but the elect put their God into a business that in 30 per cent of he make him ridic ulous through adultery or divorce Until death does us part T me steep mis nine piece perjury make the observance look touchy For better or worse This h Tierce a mild mannered man married to a virago being fool enough nut to run Imaginable a lovable woman married to a man who turns out a brute The vine clinging to the ruins making a picture of what else lad been an eye sore is all right in landscape effect but human tendril that clings to a selfmade wreck is a fool for the want of sense This is emblematic of the votary that spomlt its best years be fore a shrine It j the one puns ultra of dam phoolishiuss If God inspired the marriage formula used by Christians and forced upon Gentiles not otherwise appropriated that God line shown to the man who stops to think His lack of divinity Why it is the mork of a fine and un adulterated simpleton It makes perjury come easy If an Irishman and a Negro were placed in u locked cell and kept for any length of time thieve would be hell to pay Yet fools expert men and women between whom there has come till deepest ha tred hold to a compact made in ig norance oflIICh other disagreeable qualities Marriage is more wired thou re ligion When people are really mated there is no need of extraneous meddle oinencss where there misnmtin religion is utterly useless Applied to marriage religion is malicious in in tent in effect As a disrupting agent it gets in its work alright In England religion has been busy socially ostracising those who have married a deceased wife sitter This is n lovely occupation for hu manitarians to follow Placing a so clap embargo upon the min and woman who have married to please themselves There is streak of platonic affection permeating the family lives in ling lishmen that is beautiful on the face but which leads to untold mis chief To deny the right of marriage of female relatives is flying in the face of nature If the law called for the man to marry the sisterinlaw as the spitting net left out it would be more t to the point The marriage form is a sell ns many a damsel will find out The State must do the marrying from Alpha to Omega and it must do the annulling Statecraft must plant Priestcraft in this line As nn induccnu nt to perjury the pros end mode is great as an adjunct to hap piness you pay your money and take the consequences w WvJm5 A t r t I PROOF II LAWOf HEREDITY Expounded by Darwin and Supported by Wallace Given Corrobatlon by Influences on Montana Lad PRENTRAL CAUSES LAD TO LOSS OF POWERS OF SPEECH Out In the heart of Montana prim itive cattle country there live a bright faced laddie of six who Is just now attracting the attention of physicians scientists and philosophers Apparent Ip a perfectly normal child pretty wellbalphysically strong mentally anced bubbling over with animal spirits and laughter he Is stricken dumb when he stands In the presence of his father though he can speaK freely to every one else Persuasion bribery and punishment alike have failed to induce him to dress his father Not that he Is afraid of his brokenhearted parent not that the father has ever done anything to the child which should merit such a Simply that the terrible punishment child stands today in the sight of scientists as the worlds most remark able living proof of Darwins theory of evolution and acquired parental In Martin Is the laddies name and he Is the son of George M Martin of Custer county Montana Six months before his birth his mother with hr bus became violently angry difference which in her highly strung bang over some trifling domestic nervous state she magnified and brooded upon until she became hys terical In her anger she vowed that never again would she address a word to her husband- Before she took this vow her home her husband most happylife had been most kind and considerate Ana though he tried by every art conceiv able to his Intelligent kindly mascu line mind to turn the tide of her new found hatred and to renew their co dial and affectionate relation the wife remained unconvinced She never spoke to him from the day she took the vow until her son came into the world MEMORY LIKE A NIGHTMARI Then like a burst of sunshine a r dreary days of storm and lowerln skies reason reasserted Itself Mr Martin remembered her days of 1 urn leuver sati3r iie rpleaded for her husbands forgive and the husband understood and forgiveness was freely extended their amicable relations were restored and life in theranch home went on as be not as before for now a bright baby boy was added to the family a boy to be duly petted and spoiled by his adoring mother and admired by his proud father Then came the days of crawling and coonlng when the father tossed the little laddie high in the air caught him in his strong arms and rejoiced In the childs fearlessness and his chuckles of delight as he flew through the air Here was a laddie after his own heart thought the proud father The father helped to guide the un certain steps but it was quite natural that the mother should first Interpret the vaguely funny words and equally natural that when the laddie wanted to be understood he turned to his mother for conversational assistance No oneleast of all the father criticised this trait in the child But the tottering steps became firm the simple baby language became clear and entirely understandable and still the little laddie addressed every word to his mother The father never dreamed of any In fluence working against him but won dered jealously If all children turned thus from the father to mother It was the mother who realized the aw ful truth first who began first to suit pect then to know that the child could not address a word to his ador ing father At first she tried strategy and bribery She would lead the child to the door or window as her husband approached the house and say Hello papa just like that and mamma will give you a big sugar cookie The little lad would nod his head and start buoyantly toward his father and then suddenly he would pause certainly the glad words seemed to die on his very lips and again ht would stand unbashed unfrightened but absolutely tongue tied in the pres ence of his wondering parent Then came the day when the mother felt that perhaps she was humoring an inexplicable childish Itwhim All the Spartan motherhood in her rose to the sacrifice She would force the child to speak She told him that If he did not speak to his father she would have to whip him By this time Harry was quite old enough to realize that whippings were far less desirable than big sugar cookies and that if he could not earn the later he must make an effort to escape the former But his effort It MfIt leftItoSJ boy bord his punishment In si but when It was over with a burst of tears ho protested that though he did want to speak to his rather he could not accomplish the feat try as he would Then the mother gave In It was to protest further To her son she handed down this fatal gift of silence toward his father Her punishment was great but greater still was the regret of the father who though the child manifested evidence of mental affection toward him will never hear the boys voice addressed to him personally No confidences be eween father and son will ever be joyed To the mother the child will turn for everything Physicians examined the lad and could find no abnormal physical or mental conditions and scientists gave his unhappy case their profound con sideration Here at last was a vent able triumph for Darwins pet theory A characteristic acquired and not be longing to the mother at the time or her birthIndeed a characteristic or habit acquired but a few brief months before the child was bora had left its indelible relentless Imprint on her and Wallace were rival ponents of the theory of evolution but they differed on one vital point Darwin maintained that the mother or father could hand down to tic child any characteristics traits mid qualities possessed by the parents either at the time of their birth or acquired later In life through environ ment methods of llvnlg education etc Wallace held that the parents transmitted to the child only such characteristics or traits as were born In the parents That is events which came later In the life of the parents particularly in the life of the mother Just previous to the birth of the child could not Influence the child In the case of little Harry Martin therefore the Darwin theory triumphs beyond all notebooks of physicians and the mental tablets of professional nurses contain many incidents almost as remarkable as the case of Harry Martin At least one masterpiece or fiction is built upon prenatal Influence and that is Dr Oliver Wendell Holmess weird and fasclnatlg novel Elsie Venner What particular nerves or muscles of the larynx of the child were affect ed so as to cause dumbness when Its thoughts were turned toward its father makes n difference The en UtwrievottB system of the Infant had been affected and the will power of the child was not sufficiently strong to withstand its influence DENOUNCES ECONOMY AND LAUDS EXTRAVAGANCE Such Is the Answer Given to Dennis Leohy and His Recent Arguments Upon the Doctrines of Socialism By D Webster Groli In behalf of justice truth and en lightment kindly let me use this first opportunity my pressing business en gagements allow to refute Dennis Leohys grossly false assertion that I would potemallstlcally regulate ones food and drinks as well Such disgusting dishonest misrep resentation is thoroughly character istic orand part and parcel of socialism without which it could not exist And Dennis is hereby chal lenged to definitely show where ever advocated such paternalistic regulations or else forever stand con victed of either gross ignorance or deliberate slanderous falsehood or I as strenously oppose dividing up reputation as property with barren socialists who have nothing of either to loose and all to win thereby Considering the socialistic source I charitably pass over his dlgusting alse personalities which for lack ot real argument he resorts to but am perfectly willing to compare character with him if necessary He denounces economy and lauds extravagence condemns the saver and praises the spender illustrating with tobacco thus showing his extravagant life practice The gambler deadbeat theif robber burglar or murder may for bacco intoxicants and licentiousness generally liberally spend his ill gotten gains But nevertheless he jures society in spending as well as getting by using the money to foster other vices He who consumes more than he pro duces necessarily compels another to produce more than he consumes thereby injuring society He who pro duces more than he consumes leaves the world that much better off thane found It and thereby benefits so ciety generally- And no man can take money or property along Into the grave with him every one virtually spends It either In purchasing property or t 11 vcnlunlly in the form of a that none whatever of It Is he world By judicious Investments ho iges the employment of labor flclcnt occupation while the igant spendthrift throws wasteful injurious and channels which draw labor brainpower away from more employment What an honest industrious has saved generally represents much more service he has world than he has received how much better the world Is his having lived For If no fore us had cleared the land of ets stumps briars stone etc built houses bams cribs sheds ces cisterns bridges roads etc and planted orchards etc and tilled and enriched we would today be mere And all these great owe to the savers who willingly denyingly received less services mankind than they gave mid helped to leave us all a improvements we all enjoy they saved them for us The spendthrift who more than they produced and cheated the savers out of hard wealth have thus reduced the age our progenitors left us and by Injuried us and all mankind But contrary to Dennis Franklin French another proves economy and the homes etc so It seems cant even understand each agree among themselves Dennis might very profitably himself and brother socialists boasted lather and froth after all Is a poor brains Ever truly yours for liberty D WEBSTER BIBLE PUT Hagertown OUT Continued from First Page leading authority on good the country should be such The Rev James S Stone rector of St James Episcopal said do not see how Schneider could have taken any position I am for the bible cannot know too much about personally I would like to see it schools of whatever kind of but In view of the fact that so a share of the community is to it in the public schools I dined to agree with Mr with reference to the right Lwillschool board to include bible as one of the studies The Rev Melbourne P pastor of Lexington Avenue church favors the Bible In the structlon for all but would book of excerpts in the Rev William A Quayle of St James Methodist church favors the bible in the and everywhere else where it sible to get It for said he the United States and every Christian country founded great book of morals Yes sir In favor of the bible some form In the schools for present time we have no definite of morals there In Canada IIc schools are opened with scribed form of prayer The Roy Frank Gunsalus believe Mr Schneiders that the Bible should have an chance with the other books public schools as literature with him In that belief We the schools teachers who will the golden rule and will be the rule Incarnate SHARP POINTS FOR FRETHOUGHT ARGUMENTS CULATED TO STIR UP ACTIVE THOUGHT TO UNTIL THE NEXT IS SENT IN By Otto Wettstein Calamities can only lying not the unborn nor the If then the universe were it could not possibly be a How then can It be a calamity we exist no more The sooner we realize and that man Is purely an animal that an animal is the man the we will know the fundamental of mans existence viz that absence of this animal sible woman mani existence is If not a sparrow falls without consent then the Galveston was His desirethen churches were destroyed by will What consltsent f believer aid to reerect others In their Is the timid Athlests of evasion front being called name with which no Ignoramus ever been honored and which only Ignorant scorn and detest Agnostics concede they know absolutely nothing a god and spirits that all are the result of natural and that every fact revealed science pertains to Nature nothing god The evidence then being all one side tradition and superstition on the other how can honest pose as Agnostics thus placing and superstition on the same plane I do not believe In a personal say many realizing the folly of an idea But a god must be per l or there is none A god cannot a cloud air ether force or In lc form because these cannot intelligent A god implies person must possess the attributes of a a heavenly Father mind sentience etc all human immortal life worth living with the existence of hte physical body the pleasures Incident to or con with such body Deprived the regular three meals a day of luxuries of a home the delicacies the cuisine and a sound appetite not a very large share of happi of life vanish And furthermore of love and passions the springing from and based sole upon the latter deprived of actual of the one being we adore love butlet us confess princi on account of the charming form flesh and blood deprived of the of fatherhood and mother of offspring all of which necessitates the physical which then exists no more de during the countless ages of time of all these and the of building up and beautify a home rearing of children seeing change from Infancy to mirthful then growing up Into noble and beautiful womenIn the ab of all these joysand yet the of them remaining how can immortal life be living NEW THIN MODEL 16 SIZE WATCHES HAMPDEN No 104 23 Jewels Wm McKinley 21 Jewels same 17 jewels 12 General 17 Jewels 15 Jewels Jewels WALTHAM Riverside Maxlmus Jewels 50 Riverside 19 Jewels P S Bartlett 17 Jewels 15 Jewels 7 Jewels ELGIN No 156 or 162 21 49 levltas 21 Jewels 27 17 Jewels 22 242 17 Jewels 241 17 Jewels 12 15 Jewels 7 Jewels 340 17 Jewels CASES All the above in the new thin Sllvermo Scew Cases In Crown or Deuber filled gold case guaranteed by manufac for 20 years artistic hand or plain 300 more hunting more In 25 year case 200 than in 20 year case In cases for all time screw 800 hunting 1000 more than in Silver case Prices of solid gold cases guaranteed fresh and from factory no shopkeepers accurate timekeeper and if well good for fifty years or longer be kept in order for one year of Special movements and made nobody knows where and you cannot price intelligently buy everywhere Also of die stamped engraved cases are a fraud Those listed above known to be the best watches andIt watch Is new and per you aer safe to buy them where is lowest I pay freight LADIES GOLD WATCHESI Large size Elgin Waltham or 20year gold filled latest artistic handchased jewels 15 jewels li 16 jewels adj Small size 7 jewels Jewels 13 16 Jewels adj extra fine In 25 case more In 14k solid gold 10 to 50 more Later with dia all in plush box prepaid with CHAINS Long guards latest style soldered opals or other sets in slides plated 1 150 and 2 Best Gold 250 and 4 Extra 5 Solid Gold 10 and 25 Chains same variety Orders from any catalogue at same or less Cash refunded at ill ruW DIAMONDS PEARLS OPALS ETC- I am an expert In this line and will save you 20 per cent If you will order of me Engagement and wed ding rings a specialty Send for price list of Jewelry Free thought Badges Ingersol SpoonF Rings Silver and Plated Ware Opt cal Goods and My Tract Theism h the Crucible WEiTSTEIN LaGrange Cook COUnt Illinois tot BtMllhllr Illutrtltt BLUB GRASS BLADE Publishers lcrlepoaitri Haeckel to Wettstein I HAVE READ YOUR SYNOPSIS OF The TeleoMechanics of NatureA- ND The Biological SubConscious Minds CELLSOULS The Upbuilders of the Organic Kingdom An answer to my Fiddle of the Universe with great Interest 11111Ipleasure and sincerely hope that your masterly efforts will contribute much toward dispelling the obscurity and confusion still prevailing upon these momentous problems of Science and Philosophy rime first edition of above work in 8 parts and over one hundred chapters having been issued in pamphlet form as a Synopsis which is nearly exhaust ed enables me to reduce price of the new and all subsequent editions to 0 cents per copy in stamps or two copies for a dime Mailed to any address in she U S Canada and Mexico on rece ipt of price Mention the Blade HERMANN WETTSTEIN Publisher 413414 Main Street Fitzgerald Georgiai FLORIDA AND NEW ORLEANS I QUEEN a CRESCENT ROUTE Winter Tourist Tickets WITHOUT CHANGE 19071Good For Information led list of botcli tittuH- CL 0 18 TA Main St leiinflton H- rIORGANIZATION AT LAST J WANTEDAll readers of the Blue Grass Blade who know God Is a myth and death the end of life to fll out the following blank and forward it to the International Organizer W H Kerr Great Bend Kansas and get a nice certificate suitable for framing of graduation In the knowledge of God and life membership In the church of Humanity making you founders and Charter members of it Add 25 cents for a years subscription to its paper The Truth About God ApPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP In the Church of Humanity s W H KERR Great Bend Kans Bell vlng God to be a fabulous being enclose one dollar for Life Membership In the Church of Humanity Name Se ilPostomce fv Co orS t lipw State Sex inoccupation Nationality Language a Previous Church r The Free Speech League invites correspondence cooperation and membership of all who claim rights and dare maintain them JOIN US HELP US GET OUR LIST OF BOOKS READ THEN PASS THEM ALONG Liberty talks by Ingersoll Wakeman Walker Schroe der Pentecost Darrow Post and others Read Our Ishing Liberty ofPress five cents and also Do You Want Free Speech ten cents and learntWHY YOU SHOULD ACT WITH US The Free Speech League 120 Lexington Ave New York City r7tr erg SI If+